scholarly journals Increased Within-Network Functional Connectivity May Predict NEDA Status in Fingolimod-Treated MS Patients

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Piervincenzi ◽  
Nikolaos Petsas ◽  
Laura De Giglio ◽  
Maurizio Carmellini ◽  
Costanza Giannì ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Disease Activity ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Term Outcome ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Functional Reorganization ◽  
Brain Functional Connectivity ◽  
The Brain

Only a few studies have evaluated the brain functional changes associated with disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) in multiple sclerosis (MS), though none used a composite measure of clinical and MRI outcomes to evaluate DMT-related brain functional connectivity (FC) measures predictive of short-term outcome. Therefore, we investigated the following: (1) baseline FC differences between patients who showed evidence of disease activity after a specific DMT and those who did not; (2) DMT-related effects on FC, and; (3) possible relationships between DMT-related FC changes and changes in performance. We used a previously analyzed dataset of 30 relapsing MS patients who underwent fingolimod treatment for 6 months and applied the “no evidence of disease activity” (NEDA-3) status as a clinical response indicator of treatment efficacy. Resting-state fMRI data were analyzed to obtain within- and between-network FC measures. After therapy, 14 patients achieved NEDA-3 status (hereinafter NEDA), while 16 did not (EDA). The two groups significantly differed at baseline, with the NEDA group having higher within-network FC in the anterior and posterior default mode, auditory, orbitofrontal, and right frontoparietal networks than the EDA. After therapy, NEDA showed significantly reduced within-network FC in the posterior default mode and left frontoparietal networks and increased between-network FC in the posterior default mode/orbitofrontal networks; they also showed PASAT improvement, which was correlated with greater within-network FC decrease in the posterior default mode network and with greater between-network FC increase. No significant longitudinal FC changes were found in the EDA. Taken together, these findings suggest that NEDA status after fingolimod is related to higher within-network FC at baseline and to a consistent functional reorganization after therapy.

scholarly journals Aberrant Brain Functional Connectivity Related to Insulin Resistance in Type 2 Diabetes: A Resting-State fMRI Study

Diabetes Care ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 1689-1696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Chen Chen ◽  
Yun Jiao ◽  
Ying Cui ◽  
Song-An Shang ◽  
Jie Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Insulin Resistance ◽  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Brain Functional Connectivity

Type 1 diabetes affects the brain functional connectivity underlying working memory processing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geisa B. Gallardo‐Moreno ◽  
Francisco J. Alvarado‐Rodríguez ◽  
Rebeca Romo‐Vázquez ◽  
Hugo Vélez‐Pérez ◽  
Andrés A. González‐Garrido
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Type 1 Diabetes ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Memory Processing ◽  
Brain Functional Connectivity ◽  
The Brain

scholarly journals Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis: Prevalence, Risk Factors, Outcome, and Outcome-related Factors in Adult Idiopathic Inflammatory Myopathies

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (10) ◽  
pp. 1532-1540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junyu Liang ◽  
Danyi Xu ◽  
Chuanyin Sun ◽  
Weiqian Chen ◽  
Heng Cao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Disease Activity ◽  
Case Control Study ◽  
Case Control ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Term Outcome ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Short Term Outcome ◽  
Control Study

Objective.To clarify the prevalence, risk factors, outcome, and outcome-related factors of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) in patients with dermatomyositis (DM), polymyositis (PM), or clinically amyopathic dermatomyositis (CADM).Methods.Data of patients with DM, PM, or CADM who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University from February 2011 to February 2019 were retrospectively collected. Patients diagnosed with HLH constituted the case group. A 1:4 case-control study was performed to identify risk factors for HLH in patients with DM, PM, or CADM through comparison, univariate, and multivariate logistic regression analysis. Intragroup comparison was made among patients with HLH to identify factors influencing unfavorable short-term outcome.Results.HLH was a rare (4.2%) but fatal (77.8%) complication in patients with DM, PM, or CADM. The retrospective case-control study revealed that higher on-admission disease activity (p = 0.008), acute exacerbation of interstitial lung disease (AE-ILD, p = 0.002), and infection (p = 0.002) were risk factors for complication of HLH in patients with DM, PM, or CADM. The following intragroup comparison showed that higher on-admission disease activity (p = 0.035) and diagnosis of CADM (p = 0.039) might influence the short-term outcome of patients with HLH. However, no risk factor was identified after false discovery rate correction.Conclusion.In this study, secondary HLH was a fatal complication, with higher on-admission disease activity, AE-ILD, and infection working as risk factors. The underlying role of infection and autoimmune abnormality in HLH in connective tissue disease was subsequently noted. Clinical factors influencing the short-term outcome of patients with secondary HLH require further study.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Short-Term Music Therapy on Brain Functions of Preterm Infants Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Haoran Ren ◽  
Liangyan Zou ◽  
Laishuan Wang ◽  
Chunmei Lu ◽  
Yafei Yuan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Music Therapy ◽  
Preterm Infants ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Music Intervention ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Brain Functions ◽  
The Brain

Music contains substantial contents that humans can perceive and thus has the capability to evoke positive emotions. Even though neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) can provide preterm infants a developmental environment, they still cannot fully simulate the environment in the womb. The reduced maternal care would increase stress levels in premature infants. Fortunately, music intervention has been proved that it can improve the NICU environment, such as stabilize the heart rate and the respiratory rate, reduce the incidence of apnea, and improve feeding. However, the effects of music therapy on the brain development of preterm infants need to be further investigated. In this paper, we evaluated the influence of short-term music therapy on the brain functions of preterm infants measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). We began by investigating how premature babies perceive structural information of music by calculating the correlations between music features and fNIRS signals. Then, the influences of short-term music therapy on brain functions were evaluated by comparing the resting-state functional connectivity before and after the short-term music therapy. The results show that distinct brain regions are responsible for processing corresponding musical features, indicating that preterm infants have the capability to process the complex musical content. However, the results of network analysis show that short-term music intervention is insufficient to cause the changes in cerebral functional connectivity. Therefore, long-term music therapy may be required to achieve the deserved effects on brain functional connectivity.

scholarly journals Functional Connectivity within Brain Networks of Long Term and Short term Meditators

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2S) ◽  
pp. 29-34
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Temporal Correlation ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Invasive Technique ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Statistical Concept ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Meditative Practices

Meditation refers to a state of mind of relaxation and concentration, where generally the mind and body is at rest. The process of meditation reflects the state of the brain which is distinct from sleep or typical wakeful states of consciousness. Meditative practices usually involve regulation of emotions and monitoring of attention. Over the past decade there has been a tremendous increase in an interest to study the neural mechanisms involved in meditative practices. It could also be beneficial to explore if the effect of meditation is altered by the number of years of meditation practice. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a very useful imaging technique which can be used to perform this analysis due to its inherent benefits, mainly it being a non-invasive technique. Functional activation and connectivity analysis can be performed on the fMRI data to find the active regions and the connectivity in the brain regions. Functional connectivity is defined as a simple temporal correlation between anatomically separate, active neural regions. Functional connectivity gives the statistical dependencies between regional time series. It is a statistical concept and is quantified using metrics like Correlation. In this study, a comparison is made between functional connectivity in the brain regions of long term meditation practitioners (LTP) and short-term meditation practitioners (STP) to see the differences and similarities in the connectivity patterns. From the analysis, it is evident that in fact there is a difference in connectivity between long term and short term practitioners and hence continuous practice of meditation can have long term effects.

scholarly journals I know that I don’t know: Structural and functional connectivity underlying meta-ignorance in pre-schoolers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Filevich ◽  
Caroline Garcia Forlim ◽  
Carmen Fehrman ◽  
Carina Forster ◽  
Markus Paulus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Default Mode Network ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Cingulate Gyrus ◽  
Partial Knowledge ◽  
Metacognitive Monitoring ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Gyrus ◽  
Knowledge Condition ◽  
The Brain

Research Highlights[1] Children develop the ability to report that they do not know something at around five years of age.[2] Children who could correctly report their own ignorance in a partial-knowledge task showed thicker cortices within medial orbitofrontal cortex.[3] This region was functionally connected to parts of the default-mode network.[4] The default-mode network might support the development of correct metacognitive monitoring.AbstractMetacognition plays a pivotal role in human development. The ability to realize that we do not know something, or meta-ignorance, emerges after approximately five years of age. We aimed at identifying the brain systems that underlie the developmental emergence of this ability in a preschool sample.Twenty-four children aged between five and six years answered questions under three conditions of a meta-ignorance task twice. In the critical partial knowledge condition, an experimenter first showed two toys to a child, then announced that she would place one of them in a box behind a screen, out of sight from the child. The experimenter then asked the child whether or not she knew which toy was in the box.Children who answered correctly both times to the metacognitive question in the partial knowledge condition (n=9) showed greater cortical thickness in a cluster within left medial orbitofrontal cortex than children who did not (n=15). Further, seed-based functional connectivity analyses of the brain during resting state revealed that this region is functionally connected to the medial orbitofrontal gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus and precuneus, and mid- and inferior temporal gyri.This finding suggests that the default mode network, critically through its prefrontal regions, supports introspective processing. It leads to the emergence of metacognitive monitoring allowing children to explicitly report their own ignorance.

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